Multicolor-printing machine.



R. JACOBUCCI.- MULTICLORPRINTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED ocT. I4, 191s.

2 sHEETs-fsHEET s.

Patentedsept 11,1917.

UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

RAPHAEL JAGOBUCCI, OF FALL RIVER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR 0F ONE-HALF lO JAMES A. GROURKE, JILLCF FALL RIVER, MASSACHUSETTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 11, 1917.

A.Application filed October 1v1, 1916. Serial No. 125,717.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, RAPHAEL JACOBUCCI, a citizen of the United States, residing at Fall River, in the county of Bristol and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Multicolor- Printing Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to printing, and more especially to multicolor machines;

and the obj ect of the same is to improve cercylinder.

tain details as set forth below.

An important feature of this invention lies in the use of the Ordinary intermittently rotating disk with or without a fountain, for each color of ink, and the use of a number of these disks at yintervals in a rotary table alon with sets of rollers and means for causing the rollers automatically to engage their proper disks only.

JAnother feature of the invention consists in mounting a set of bed plates at intervals in said table, and providing means forpermitting the rollers of one color only to drop onto each plate as the latter passes beneath them.

Another feature of the invention is the means for diverting each form from its circular path and directing it along a straight path at a time when it is passing beneath the Other details will appear in the following specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure l is a plan view of the press with parts partly broken away to show details of construction and withy parts in section.

Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary detail showing the ink plate and fountain actuating mechanism.

Rising from a suitable support such as sills 1 are standards 2 carrying an annular base 3 which in turn carries a number of anti-friction devices or wheels 4. At the center of the standards rises a pillar 5 on which is rotatably mounted a sleeve 6 carrying a beveled gear 7, and meshing therewith is another gear 8 at the inner end of a power shaft 9 mounted in suitable bearings 10 and having fast and, loose pulleys at of wheels or the rotary table might be solid. Y

Said table carries the bed plates for the chases and the inking plates or disks for inks of several colors, and in the accompanying 4drawings I have shown three of each so that this machine is adapted to'print in three colors. However, I do not wish to be limited in this respect as there might be a greater number of colors, and in a large machine I would probably make provision for a greater number and then use only such as desired.

The ncc'ng meokam'cm.-Each inking plate or disk20 is rotatably mounted on a pin 21 and carries on its under side teeth 22 as usual, and adjacent each disk a fountain 23 is by preference employed. The usual mechanism. 24 ,may be used for intermittently rotating the disk and causing the feed of the fountain, and this mechanism is actuated by a lever 25 tripped by a cam 26 or a f series of cams located preferably in advance of the cylinder as seen. For each disk the table carries a track made up of inner and outer rails. In the drawings I have shown red, yellow and blue disks for illustrative purposes only, and I have shown three tracks diering in gage from each other and which I have purposely shaded to correspond in color with their respective disks. I am now describing the red disk 20, whose track is of the widest gage and whose rails are num* bered 27 and 28. It will be observed that these rails are depressed or entirely removed at points 29 opposite the disk 20 and a little in advance and a little in rear of it.

At the upper end of the pillar 5 is a head 30 on which is mounted a spider 31 carrying in the present case three arms 32 each having at its outer end an upright plate 33 provided with a series of slots 34; and rising rigidly from the base 3 is a similar plate 35 having an equal number of upright slots 36. In said slots rest the trunnions 37 of a set of rollers 38, and each roller has on its trunnions wheels 39 spaced according to the gage of the rails 27 and 28. In the presenty instance the red rollers and -their track are of wide gage, the yellow rollers .and their track intermediate gage, and the blue rollers and their track narrow gage. However, this arrangement is a matter of choice, and of course it .would have to .be .amplified if there were more than three yset of rollers. In any case the tracks vlare depressed or omitted at 29 opposite the disk as described above, and therefore in the rotation -of .the table 13 whenever any disk approaches its corresponding set of rollers the depressed track permits their wheels 39 and their bodies 38 .to drop onto that disk .from which they receive .ink in ythe usual manner. In the arrangement shown, three disks precede three type beds numbered respectively 40, 41 and Continuing the description of the red, the tracks 27 and 28 are depressed or emitted at 49 opposite the bed 40 whose type are to be inked in red, and a little in advance and a little in rear of the same; and therefore as the chase containing these type approaches the set of red rollers, they descend and the 'inking is accomplished. As soon as' this chase has passed, `the rollers rise onto the tracks beyond the depressions 49 so that they spread `no ink ,ontolthe type in the chases on the :yellow bed 4.1 andthe blue bed 42, both of which do get their ink, however,.fro1n the proper vset .of rollers.

The paper feed-lie head 30 carries a bearing 50 opposite the spider 31, and another'bearing y51 is carried by =the base, preferably on an `eXtra standard 2. In these bearings are mounted trunnions 52 of a cylinder 53, vwhose inner endcarries a gear 54 meshing with a gear ring 55 fixed 'to and rising from the spokes 12 `and .standing just inside the innermost vrails of the several tracks, and moving just inside the several plates 33. By these means the revolution of the ltable is communicated to the cylinder, and the latter is caused t-o revolve reliably in unison therewith, no matter at what `speed the machine is run. I have shown only in outline the feed board for lthe paper, the gripper fingers on the cylinder, the crank lever 56 at the inner end of the same, and its trip 57 inside the gear ring 55-none of which mechanism I claim to have invented,

but all ofwhich is -necessary in the successy ful operation of this machine vas described below.

The printing mecz.am'sm.In the present instance one-half of the cylinder is its working vsurface and the other half is cut away, and the bedvplates are so disposed and proportioned -that they ce-act with the working` surface while the-spaces between lthern register with the cut-away portion of the cylinder.v Se also the disks come Linder the working surface of the rotating cylinder, but as they are lower their inked surfacesrare not in contact with it; and the spaces between the ldisks also register with the cut-away portion of the cylinder. In other Words, the latter makes six revolutions to one complete rotation of the table 13. 'If printing 'isto be done in three colors, the Atripv57 is so located .as to engage the lever 56 and open the gripper fingers to release the paper, only after the same has made three vrevolutions with the cylinder, but the details of the paper feed need .netbe amplified. In order now to cause each bed plate to move along a strictly straight path as.itpasses beneaththe cylinder, and while the printing` is actually being done, Imount the plate looselyon the table in such manner that .it ymay have va slight movement .either way `from its rposition truly .radial yto such table, and provide fixed guidesrextending beneath the cylinder and against which Athe -outer and innerl .ends of .the plate slidably move .at lthe proper time. `While .I .do not wish lto be ilin'iited in this respect, the iloese mounting .referred to is yshown .as accomplished by .pins .60 and 61 rising .from the-table `if the same .isvsolid or spokes ltherein if l.the same vis open, and grooves or sl-ots 62 and `63 in the flower face of .each Aplate loosely engaging said pins, pla-y in this arrangement providing -for relative turning ofthe plate. This lwill cause the plate .to progress along itscircular path .as `the table rotates, while yet permitting .the plate tto swing .to and :fro with respect toa true .radial position. Beneath the cylinder 53 and just outside the inner ytrack 27 :is located a straight guide 64 having -a finger 65at what will be its inlet end,.and similarly beneath the cylinder and just .inside .the outer .track 28 is 4located astraight guide 66 having a .longer .and `yielding finger 67 at its inlet end. These guides are rigidly mounted in any suitable manner, preferably by arms 68 4and 69 leading respectively to lthe bearings50 and 5-1.

`Opemitoa---Iiet us assume new thatqthe machine is to print three forms in red, yellow and blue respectively. Thechases containing the lforms are mounted on the 4bed plates 40, 41 and 42,' and the proper colors applied to the Vdisks either directly :or by means of `the fountains 23 if they eXist. Paper is then fed to the cylinder either Aby hand or mechanically-this detail forming no part of the invention-and when power is applied to the shaft 9 the interme'shing beveled gears lcause the rotation of the table 13 and the ring 55 and gear 54-cause the simultaneous revolution of the cylinder at the relative speed described above. When now the form (for'red ink) in the chase upon the plate 40 passes beneath the set ofgrollers carrying red ink. the depressions 29 in the tracks permit the trunnions of said rollers to ydescend in the slots 34 and 36 in the plates 33 and 35 and the inking surface of the rollers contact with the surface of the type.

'lee

` disk 20 comes under the set of rollers bearing ink of corresponding color, the depressions 29 in the tracks permit those rollers to descend and become inked, whereas at other times the rollers are held elevated excepting when they are inking the form as just described, and therefore inks of different colors are not mixed. IVhen now the first of the three forms approaches the cylinder, the inner and outer ends of its plate pass between the lingers and 67 respectively, and as the plate can move slightly by reason of the pins and slots described, these fingers direct it toward the straight guides 64 and 66 between which its ends are received just before it passes under the cylinder-all as perhaps best seen in Fig. 1. The position of the paper on the cylinder is of course such that it is stretched across its working surface and held by the usual gripper fingers or tapes in a well-known manner, and while the form is passing under the working surface of the cylinder the latter is making half a revolution and the impression in the proper color is applied to the paper. The plate with its form now moves out from between the rear ends of the fixed guides and on around with the table, and the neXt form inked with a different color approaches. By preference the space between the forms is the same as the width of each form, although of course it could be once and a half as wide so that the cylinder would make one and a tion with a rotary table, a plurality of bed plates thereon carrying separate forms, and the cylinder and paper feed; of a number of inking disks each rotatably mounted in said table, a like number of sets of inking rollers mounted in upright guides across the path of said disks and forms, means for permit-ting the descent of any given set upon its disk and upon its form, means for rotating each disk at a certain point in its travel with the table, a Jfountain adjacent the disk, and means for causing the feed of the fountain at a certain point in said travel.

2. In a multi-color press, the combination with a rotary table, a plurality of bed plates thereon carrying separate forms, the cylinder and paper feed; means for holding the plates parallel to the cylinder at a given time; of a number of inking disks each rotatably mounted in said table, a like number of inking rollers mounted in upright guides across the path of said disks and forms, wheels on the trunnions of the various rollers and set to different gage, and tracks of corresponding gage Aon the table, the rails of each track being depressed opposite one disk and one form.

3. In a multi-color press, the combination with a rotary table, a plurality of bed plates `shiftably mounted thereon carrying sepahalf complete revolutions before it acts on, means for causing each roller to apply. ink

the neXt form. However, with the spacing as shown in Fig. l the cut-away portion of the cylinder is at the bottom between forms, the cylinder makes a half revolution, and by the time the second form comes beneath it and between the guides the front edge of the paper is again in position to be pressed upon the type. This form in turn passes on, and the operation is repeated to apply the third color; and then the trip 57 engages the lever 58 and releases the grippers so that the printed paper passes along, and a new sheet is fed. It is obviously quite possible to print in two colors by removing one disk and omitting the form from the corresponding bed plate, and setting the trip to release the paper earlier; and so also the machine could be used to print in one color. The colors described herein are arbitrary. Any color can be instantly changed by removing the disk (with its fountain if used) and the set of rollers, and replacing them.

What is claimed as new is:

l. In a multi-color press, the combinato one form as the latter passes under 1t.

4. In a multi-color press, the combination with a plurality of shiftable bed plates carrying separate forms, a like number of inking plates, carrying means for moving all said plates through an endless path, and the printing mechanism proper at one point in said path; of a plurality of rollers, and means for throwing each roller into contact with one inking plate and one form successively as they travel along said path, and means for shifting the plates on the said carrying means as they approach the printing mechanism.

5. In a multi-color press, the combination with a plurality of bed plates carrying separate forms, a like number of inking plates, rotary means for moving all said plates through an endless path, printing mechanism proper at one point in said path; and means for converting rotary movement of the forms to rectilinear movement; of rollroller nnte =one inking plate, then raising it, and then 'dropping it onto one form and raising it again.

6. In a multi-color press, the combination with a continuously rotating` table, a plurality of hed plates loosely mounted at intervals'thereon and carrying separate forms, the in'hing mechanism, andthe cylinder; of parallel fixed guides extending beneath the cylinder and spaced to engage and direct a hed plate as it passes under the same, and yieldahle means at the inlet ends of said guides for directing the approaching plates between them.

f7. In a multi-color press, the combination `with a rotary table, a plurality of bed plates 'loosely mounted at intervals thereon and carrying separate forms, the inking mechanism, and the cylinder; `of parallel fixed guides extending straight beneath the cylinder and spaced to engage and direct a bed plate as it `passes straight under the same, and yielding ngers at the inlet ends -of said is received and loy Which it is directed to the lingers.

lguides between which an approaching plate In testimony whereof I atix my signature Copies of this ypatent ymay -be obtained for ire cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. C. v 

